A process for performing nonlinear control at high levels of performance can evaluate a transcendental function to generate a corrected error signal in a feedback control loop. The corrected error signal is produced in response to a control loop error. A function |x|α is a transcendental function that generally uses substantial digital computation for its evaluation. In digital systems, such transcendental functions can be evaluated by determining a Taylor series expansion that consumes a high level of computing power and a substantial number of clock cycles for its execution. Hardware implementations for evaluation of transcendental functions have been proposed such as by using CORDIC (coordinate rotation digital computer), which is an iterative process that converges in accuracy during successive steps. Accordingly, the evaluation of a transcendental function such as |x|α in a control loop can consume relative large amounts of power and time.